What ㇴ means
It marks an n at a syllable's end.
In Ainu katakana, ㇴ is a final consonant, or coda: after a vowel, it adds n without adding another vowel. Other small kana can mark consonants the same way.
Katakana has been used to write Ainu since at least the Edo period, when interpreters transcribed the language; Ainu writers also left kana material around the Taishō era. This spelling practice predates computer encoding.
Why is ㇴ written so small?
Its small form marks a consonant without a vowel.
An Ainu language table gives アン and アㇴ for an. In the second spelling, ㇴ stays attached to the preceding vowel within the word.
Sakhalin Ainu spelling developed in a particular historical setting: a grammar describes katakana entering through Japanese administration and Chiri's 1942 grammar setting out coda spellings. Follow the spelling system of the source you are reading; not every Ainu source writes final n the same way.
A character used in Ainu katakana spelling; its use is specialist, not decorative.
Use ㇴ in an Ainu spelling, not as a small-style ヌ.
Part of the collection
Who writes ㇴ
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Don't confuse it with
2
Combination ideas
3Worth knowing
- Unicode describes the katakana extension family as based on JIS X 0213:2000, a Japanese character encoding standard; Ainu katakana spelling predates it.
Questions people ask
2Is ㇴ interchangeable with ン?
Sometimes. An Ainu language table gives both for final n, but spellings vary by source. Follow the convention of the text you are reading.
Will ㇴ work in every app?
No. Apple's macOS Tahoe 26 guide says small kana are usable only in Unicode-compatible apps.
More like this
10
How to type or find ㇴ
- Search it as
- Ainu · Ainu kana · small kana · coda · final n
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ㇴ\31F4Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.